


Gotham: Strength in the Face of Tragedy

by defiasstone2



Category: Batman (Movies - Nolan), Batman - All Media Types, Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Multi, Origin Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-11-04
Packaged: 2018-02-18 07:25:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2340032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/defiasstone2/pseuds/defiasstone2
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In anticipation of the new TV series Gotham I present an alternative origin story for probably the most beloved comic book characters of all time, Batman: On the terrible night of the Wayne's murder, there was another person present in the alley in which the future of the universe would be changed, a young activist Pamela Isley had followed them in the hope of enlisting their support for her group. Witness to the murder of Gotham's most prominent couple, things for the young Ivy are about to change. Whether for better or worse, both Pamela and Gotham will have to wait and see.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Dreadful Happenstance

**Author's Note:**

> In honour of the new series, Gotham that comes out on TV in the near future, I decided to create my own little Gotham: Origins story. It will be based around the simplest of ideas, what if the Wayne's hadn't been walking down the street alone that night.
> 
> A young Pamela Isley, determined to do more than just protest the minor environmental causes that she can escape from her abusive father to go to, followed the Wayne's to the cinema to approach them and ask for support and assistance with her latest big cause. Her cause however, saving one of Gotham’s largest parks from being turned into another metropolitan slum, is forgotten as she follows the family through the streets from the cinema, wrapped up in her own childish wistfulness of the family scene she had never experienced herself playing out in front of her. The events that follow will change her forever, and with it the future of Gotham City itself…

Pamela Islay, or Ivy as she preferred to be called by her few friends outside of the protest groups she was a member of, knew that if she was honest with herself that following the Wayne family was probably a bad idea from the start. Especially as she was probably being the least subtle tail in history, as she ducked quickly behind another dumpster whilst tucking another errant lock of her bright red hair back under the large hat she was wearing in an attempt to make herself less obvious to her targets. The Wayne’s were folk legends in the city of Gotham, they were the richest family in Gotham after all and had been for generations, and that wealth as always seemed to place them a level above those that they walked amongst now. But Ivy had to admit from what she had seen thus far that they did not seem like some of the other rich and famous people in Gotham she had seen or had approached for help previously.

 

The trio talked to each other loudly and honestly, the young boy in the middle throwing out jokes and points that the parents laughed at and carried on for him, though his mother seemed more exasperated by the two male’s comments than anything else. They had just been for their weekly trip to the Monarch Theatre, a routine the trio had followed long enough that when Ivy had asked around about how to contact them one of her friends had brought it up. She was surprised there were no bodyguards with them, but she supposed having large musclebound men stood around kind of ruined the warm atmosphere the trio had generated amongst themselves.

 

Such interactions made Ivy's stomach flutter a little, her father had never been the kindest of people and since her mother died four years before after a prolonged period of illness he had turned to drink and gotten to the point of lashing out at her if she tried to take the half full bottles from him before he drank himself into a full stupor. Having no warm family memories of her own to cherish Ivy had found herself a bit hesitant to approach the Wayne's whilst they were so obviously happy with each other's company, given their wealth and renown they were probably sick of people coming to them with problems like her own, but Ivy had no other idea of who to turn too.

 

Since she had little to no desire to stay at home longer than absolutely necessary, a ten year old Ivy had found herself travelling more and more of Gotham's neighbourhoods in an effort to find something to do to entertain herself during the summer break that year. Anything would do to keep herself away from home until the evening when she was to bring home food, cook it for her father and her when he got in from working on the docks and then wash up before bed. It was on one of these walks that she had come across an environmental protest being undertaken to protect the habitat of a group of nesting birds of prey inside a defunct factory, the group trying to stop it from being demolished to make way for some new high rise flats, the developers ignoring the factories other use, serving as the birds hunting grounds and nesting area for their chicks.

 

At once Ivy had been enamoured by the groups’ goals, approaching one of the protestors and asking for more information. Luckily for her Ivy looked older than she was and the man enthusiastically had divulged a wave of information about the habitat inside the factory, how suitable it was for the birds and so on. For the next two weeks Ivy continued to turn up to that factory and join in with the protests, her unique flame red hair and small stature generating quite a lot of attention for the group, to the point that a local reporter had asked to interview her on the protest and why she had joined up with it. The day of the interview though Ivy saw another side of Gotham that she hadn't seen before, the police arriving in force to break up the protest, despite the fact that the protestors had a writ from the mayor’s office allowing them to protest peacefully for the rest of the week.

 

The chaos that followed was something that still gave Ivy nightmares to this day, four years after the event, armed SWAT teams charging into the protestors with batons and riot shields and lashing out at any who tried to stand in their way. Ivy hadn't escaped unscathed of course, she had been caught with a bone breaking smash to the face by one of the truncheons as the SWAT members lashed out with impunity through the tear gas that had also been released to disperse the crowds. She had fallen to the ground at the blow only to be trampled by the fleeing protesters and police. The next thing Ivy remembered was waking up in hospital surrounded by people who she didn't recognise and only able to see out of one eye, including some of the leaders of the protest group.

 

It turned out that the police force hospitalising a ten year old girl, who had been recorded on camera as being part of a peaceful protest before being beaten and trampled with no provocation, was a far better story for the news crew than the one they had originally planned on running. The footage exploded throughout the news industry and had been reported throughout Gotham both on TV and in the newspapers. In this dark and troubled city the derision of what had happened was probably the only thing that the people, good or bad inclined, agreed upon. Whilst Ivy spent the next week recovering from the mild fracture just above her orbital socket, paid for by the city of course, and if that was not enough she had been visited by the mayor, several senior police officers and government officials who were all profoundly apologetic that she had been caught up in the middle of what had been 'a regrettable incident'.

 

But what had truly pulled at her heart strings was the face of the first protester she had talked to that first day she had seen the protest, a large African American in his late forties with dreadlocks and a well maintained moustache and goatee, sweeping in with tears pouring down his face as he jumbled up apologies with questions about was she okay, was there anything she needed and so on. Such a display of emotion about her and her wellbeing was something that Ivy had only fuzzy memories of her mother giving her and had brought tears to her eyes even as more of the protest group entered, allowing her to feel like part of a group, a family, for the first time in memory.

 

It turned out that the publicity from her attack generated a huge wave of negative public opinion against the developers and the construction project was dropped, meaning that Ivy had helped the group win their first big victory in years. However, with her true age revealed they couldn't allow her to keep on protesting with them as it was illegal and could invalidate any future protests they did. Not being able to act on the front lines didn't dampen Ivy's new found determination or passion, nor did the forty minutes of screaming she received when she returned home to her father, who didn't care that she had been injured but that she hadn't been around to sort the house out and cook him dinner.

 

She gladly took minor roles within the group that they could offer her, sending letters to officials and companies asking for support, delivering pamphlets and leaflets out on the street with some of the other protestors when she could during the school holidays. But people seemed to care less and less these days and the opposition to the group became more and more violent, several key members being attacked and put into hospital with heavy injuries. Which was why she had decided to approach the Wayne's unofficially, if she could persuade them to help back the group a little then with such high profile backers perhaps the group would be taken a little more seriously once more.

 

That was her hope anyways as she shifted to the base of a fire escape as the elder Wayne's laughed at something the younger Wayne said. As she thought when she first spotted them leaving the theatre, the Wayne's seemed a lot nicer than the other rich people in the city. She didn’t remember this but supposedly the elder Wayne’s had visited her when she had been unconscious in the hospital after the police attack, leaving her a card that whilst simple had been surprisingly touching to read. Ivy was drawn from her hopeful musings by a sudden shout from up ahead, peeking out from behind her cover Ivy saw the three Wayne's stood stock still as a big burly man in leathers and a balaclava pointed a gun at the three of them, shouting out hoarsely for them to hand over their money.

 

Ivy was too far to hear what the what the Wayne's said as they tried to appease the man, but the first pair of gunshots was clear enough, the elder male Wayne falling to the floor as the woman screamed. The piercing noise was cut off a moment later by another gunshot, the gunman turning and sprinting away even as the young boy's cries burst out into the night as his mother collapsed backwards with a grunt. Ivy's mind struggling to comprehend what was happening for a moment, she had just witnessed the shooting of two of the most powerful people in Gotham City... That thought clicked a moment later and she sprinted out from where she had been hiding up to where the Wayne's now laid, grabbing her mobile phone from her pocket as she did so.

 

The Wayne boy seemed completely lost to the world as he sat by his mother's body, so Ivy couldn't rely on him even as she checked the two Wayne's injuries even as her trembling fingers typed in 911 into her phone before hitting the dial button. The male Wayne had been shot twice and wasn't breathing, but the boy’s mother had been shot in the abdomen rather than the chest and was breathing though in obviously great pain doing so. Even as Ivy tried to work out what to do, there was a tired male voice that reverberated from the phone next to her ear.

 

"Gotham emergency services, what service do you need this evening?" The shock that was still enveloping Ivy's system at the scene before her almost made her drop the phone at the voice, fumbling with it for a moment before she managed to find her voice to speak once more.

 

"T-there's been a shooting, back alley by third and twenty second street... It's the Wayne's, I don’t, what do I do..." The was a momentary pause before the voice replied, his voice a lot more alert and concerned as he spoke to her.

 

"Okay miss, units are on their way and ambulances are on the way. You said it was the Wayne's, what are their injuries?" Ivy did her best to relay what she could see on the elder Wayne's, as well as the younger Wayne's almost comatose condition, and she could hear a muttered conversation being held on the other end of the phone for a moment before the police officer gave her instructions to treat the female Wayne's wound, continuing to talk to her about what was going on even as she tore off her scarf to press on the wound in front of her. That drew a pained gasp from the woman but the officer on the other end of the phone told her to press it in regardless of how much pain it seemed to cause.

 

Even as she heard the approaching sirens from behind her, Ivy's panic rose as the woman she was trying to treat gave one last heaving breath before falling silent. Doing her best to remember what she had been taught about CPR at school, Ivy grabbed the youngest Wayne and made him place his hands on the wound in his mother's stomach before she checked the woman's neck for a heartbeat. What happened next was a blur to her, only remembering being dragged from doing CPR on the female Wayne by a police officer to allow the ambulance officers to step in and take the woman away to the hospital.

 

The only other thing she remembered was the feeling of the shivering boy leaning against her shoulder as the adults bustled around in front of them. The rain that started to fall from the sky seemed to be poetically ironic as it washed some of the blood that had seeped out onto the floor from the bodies directly in front of them, as well covering up the shocked tears that slowly started to fall from her eyes as she truly comprehended what had just happened...


	2. Welcome back to hell

It was not just raining as Detective James Gordon drove the police car up to the end of the squalid alleyway his senior partner Harvey Bullock had directed him to, it was a true torrential downpour that he vaguely remembered from the last time he had been in Gotham almost a decade before. It was a stark change from the dry heat of the Middle East that he had been in six months before, something that he had become strangely accustomed to and thus found himself pulling his coat tighter around himself to keep a little warmer as he stepped out into the deluge and noise.

For 11pm on a Thursday night the streets were packed with people, word about the Wayne's being shot had obviously passed through the local grape vine at a tremendous rate for so many people to have gathered together. Or, a darker thought entered his head as he muscled through the crowds to the police tape that had sectioned off the end of the alley and saw several people he knew as informants and aides of several of the larger crime families, someone had arranged for this terrible event to happen. The Wayne’s were thorns in the side of organised crime in the city that had received more than a dozen death threats that year alone, so someone could have organised the hit and therefore had the crowd somewhat ready to gather in the background so that they could check the task had been completed successfully with relative anonymity.

Gordon forced himself to brush the thought to one side a moment later as he ducked under the tape, they had bigger things to worry about than snitches and informants right now. One of the patrol officers, a young female with an errant lock of blonde hair escaping from under her police hat that now clung to her cheek in the downpour, offered him an umbrella that was quickly accepted and extended above their heads. Seeing that Bullock was currently talking with some of the assembled crowd, Gordon decided that now was a good a time as any to try and get some more information about the shooting.

Anything would be more to go on than the rather curt orders he had gotten from Captain Sykes after being called in an hour ago. The captain had been understandably stressed when he had seen her in her office, the thirty five year old was one of the youngest captains in Gotham's police department and therefore there was more than enough stress involved in her role without this happening to her as well. Gordon was stressed as well, they all were in the current Gotham political environment, but he did his best not to make it show as he extended his hand to the patrol officer in a friendly greeting.

"Detective James Gordon, I'm new to the department. What can you tell me about what's going on? The captain didn't have much information for us at the station." The patrol officer seemed almost surprised that he was talking to her, taking a moment to brush the lock of hair out of the way before taking his hand and shaking it a little nervously.

"Officer Sarah Essen, it's nice to meet you James, I mean sir. I was the first on the scene and well, it isn't pretty. The Wayne head was declared dead on the scene, bullet wound to the chest, and his wife is on the way to the hospital now for emergency surgery, two wounds to the abdomen. She would probably be dead now if it weren't for the kid putting pressure on the wound and then doing CPR, it's still touch and go if she will make it." Gordon winced, the idea of a kid having seen that was something he wouldn't wish on anyone.

"Call me Jim, the Wayne boy was here too then? Any news on the shooter, I can't imagine the boy can remember much about him but anything is better than nothing." Sarah seemed to realise something whilst he was speaking and shook her head hurriedly before vocalising her correction.

"The young Wayne was here s-Jim, but he is still in shock, so it wasn't him that... I think it will be easier if I stop talking. Let me take you to the pair of them now so you can talk to them yourself." She turned and started to walk down the alley, James catching up quickly when he realised that she didn't have an umbrella to shelter under like the one she had given him. The alleyway looked as normal as a crappy badly lit street could, the crime guys had arrived before he did and given the heavy downpour and given the fact one of the shooting victims had still been alive and treated on site by a civilian, the crime scene had been pretty contaminated already.

There was a body bag on the ground about 50 yards down the alley though, something that brought James right back on task. They stopped there for a moment and James handed Emma back the umbrella so that he could kneel down and open the bag up. Thomas Wayne, the most famous man in Gotham City, if not the United States, lay before him. It was a stark contrast between the smiling and open company owner that James had occasionally caught on the news broadcasts whilst on leave and the corpse in front of him, face still in a mixture of shock and pain. Checking the wound, James found himself doubting that this was just some random street robbery more and more, something that he made clear as he stood up after zipping the body bag once more.

"The shot to the chest was either very lucky or very accurate, Mr Wayne would probably have been dead by the time he hit the floor. Given the less accurate shooting of Mrs Wayne and the survival of the son, it is likely the shooter wasn't here randomly, he was here to kill Mr Wayne in cold blood." As Emma looked at him with a mixture of shock and respect of the deductions he made James shook his head, better to gather facts first before making statements like that, he wasn't in a war zone anymore. Snap decisions whilst vital on the battle field were a lot less useful in a city where such rashness could stand on a lot of very powerful and dangerous toes very quickly. Waving his hand in an attempt to make his words a little less certain publically, James turned back to Emma with a frown.

“I shouldn’t say such things based on just a first glance, I am probably completely wrong. The coroner will be able to tell us more I imagine. Now, where are the witnesses?” Emma didn’t look like she bought his last words for one second and that made James’ opinion of her rise a little further even as she gestured a little further down the alleyway where a pair of officers were stood at alert. Walking over to them James was surprised when they saluted him, he hadn’t expected it after leaving the military but it was a nice feeling to get even as he saluted them back, spotting his next order of business in a little alcove the officers were guarding. The two of them were small, more so than normal as they were curled up underneath a set of blankets that James presumed the ambulances had given them when they arrived. Emma spoke quietly from next to him, her face softening for the first time into a slight smile at the sight of the pair of them.

“Bruce Wayne is the one on the left, he hasn’t said anything beyond a few unintelligible murmurs thus far, though the fact that when I arrived he was trying to stop his mother from bleeding out by pressurising her wounds falling into shock is hardly the biggest surprise.” James nodded, even trained soldiers were susceptible to shock let alone a young boy, he couldn’t be more than 14 or 15 at most and probably a couple of years under that. The other figure shifted at Emma’s words and a pair of dark green eyes suddenly appeared out from underneath the makeshift hood the blankets had formed, fixing themselves on James for a moment before lowering to avoid looking him in the eyes. It took a minute but as the blankets shifted it became clear that whoever the other person was, they were in fact trying to extract themselves from Bruce, presumably to stand up and talk to them.

“That’s Pamela Islay, bit of a famous kid herself in police circles. She was here trying to speak with the Wayne’s informally about some activist work she was doing, but just as she was building up the courage… Well you’ve seen what happened. She seems to be reacting remarkably well to the events, as I said earlier she saved Mrs Wayne’s life by calling 911 and treating her as best she could. Medics had to drag her off Mrs Wayne when they arrived, the boy seems a fair bit attached to her as well.” That much was clear to James as Pamela seemed to struggle for a couple moments longer before finally managing to extricate herself and slip under the blankets and out towards them.

She was taller than James had expected, almost reaching the middle of his chest now that she was stood up straight. Though she seemed steady on her feet as she stepped towards them James could see the classic signs of shellshock, white cheeks, dilated pupils and shaking hands. As such he was not overly surprised when she stumbled slightly and almost went headfirst into him as she rocked forwards, his hands gently but firmly meeting her shoulders and helping her steady herself once more. As Pamela finished setting herself firmly in the standing position her eyes flickered up to meet James’ once more, only for a moment before they flitted back down to his chest, but that moment was enough for James to get a better read on her emotionally.

Her eyes were not that of a child, certainly there was more there than the eyes of a traumatised girl who was in over her head. James had no idea what Sarah had been talking about when she had referred to the girl as being a little famous, but the eyes he saw were no strangers to violence and pain, eyes that he knew that he shared, having to look at them every morning in the mirror. There was a steely determination there as well though, something that came across in her voice as she spoke up, her voice barely trembling in the cold of the night air.

“I-I prefer Ivy sir, Pam is an old woman’s name. I am not sure what else I can tell you, I wasn’t very close when the man appeared and therefore didn’t hear what was said between him and the Wayne family. Perhaps Master Wayne would be able to help you, but to be honest I think he needs a warm bed and a night’s sleep before he can be useful to anyone.” She certainly didn’t lack in confidence or eloquence, something that made James wonder about her even more, but she was right and James didn’t want to keep the two of them out here any longer than absolutely necessary. Turning to Sarah, James thought for a moment longer before deciding to go with his instincts about the case thus far. If this had been a strike against the Wayne family rather than just a mugging gone badly, then whoever was behind it might decide to have a go at finishing the job.

“Officer Essen, could you please go tell my partner that I wish to speak with him and also go get me a line back to headquarters, I need to brief Captain Sykes on what has happened here before the press can publish the news. Has anyone contacted the Wayne house yet?” Sarah nodded a little uncertainly before firming up and nodding and answering him.

“The Wayne family butler has been contacted, his other relatives are nowhere nearby and the new head of the family, Mr Silas Wayne the deceased’s uncle, has given the man power of care over Bruce whilst he catches the first flight back from Afghanistan. The butler should be here within the next half an hour or so to pick the boy up and take him home. You can use my phone if you know the number Jim?” It was another thing that Jim knew he would need to stop off-putting for much longer, even as Sarah brought out a small flip phone, he had avoided getting a phone when he had returned from duty partially out of not seeing the need for one and also to avoid being pestered by his therapist for further appointments.

Grabbing the phone with a short thanks, Jim rapidly punched in the number that he had memorised on his first day in the police station, bringing it up to his ear as Sarah turned back to Ivy, speaking quietly and warmly as the girl shivered slightly in the brisk weather. There were two short rings before the captain’s serious and tired voice spoke on the other end, a slight hint of annoyance present in her tone even as she probably tried her best to hide it.

“Captain Sykes here, who is this?” Jim almost jumped to attention out of force of habit, settling for a mere straightening of the shoulders and posture as he replied quickly and briefly in order to minimise the amount of time he was taking in the captains over packed schedule.

“Detective Gordon here sir, at the scene of the shooting that you sent us to investigate. Two fatalities, the parents, the kid is unharmed but traumatised and we have a witness that might be able to help us find the perp as she heard his voice. No visuals though as the guy was covered up and cleared off straight after the shooting, left money and jewellery behind, so this could be more than a simple robbery gone wrong.” Jim deliberately avoided using any names, locations or descriptions in his report, he was slowly coming around to the idea that the safest way to treat this assignment and Gotham in general was that he was in hostile territory and that everything up to and including the walls had ears. Sykes seemed to be of the same opinion, her reply equally obscure as her voice changed to more alert and almost wary in tone.

“Is Bullock of the same opinion? Actually ignore that, have the families been informed of what has happened? I will need you to bring the survivor and the witness back here personally Detective, if you are right and this is more than it seems then I cannot risk their safety in the hands of anyone else. Do not let them out of your sight for a moment, do you understand?” Jim nodded seriously before remembering he was talking on the phone.

“Understood Captain. The family have been informed and are sending someone with a car here now. I will ride over to the station with them personally when they have arrived. Gordon out.” Gordon flicked the phone shut without waiting for a reply, Sykes struck him as the type not to care for niceties any more than was strictly necessary, something he could agree with whole heartedly. Now he just had to tell Bullock about his little theory and see what the older cop had to say on the matter, but to do that… It was in this moment Jim had to decide who to trust even amongst those who carried the same badge as him, what little he had been told by Bullock and Sykes about the city he served made him wonder whether there was anyone he could trust. Looking over to Sarah and Ivy who were still talking, Sarah having gotten the girl another blanket to wrap around herself, Jim decided to trust his gut once more.

“Sarah, I have to go brief Detective Bullock on events here, can you keep an eye on Ivy and the boy for me? No one else is to go near them until I get back understand?” Sarah nodded but before Jim could move off there was a new voice, which emanated out from the blankets in the alcove as a boy’s face, pale and gaunt in a way that only accentuated his dark hair and dark brown eyes.

“M-My name is Bruce Wayne, not boy Detective.” The shock seemed to be wearing off the young heir now and Jim knew in situations like this it was best to be open, honest and talkative with the young man to keep them from regressing.

“Well Bruce, my name is James Gordon and you seem to know that I am a detective. I am sorry for the loss of your father, your mother is on the way to the hospital now.” Bruce took a second, but then he nodded abruptly with a light colouring of a blush on his cheeks.

“I know Mr Gordon, Ivy told me about what happened, I don’t remember it very clearly so I am not sure I can help much…” The blush deepened when the boy said the girl’s name and Jim couldn’t help a wry smile even as he moved closer to crouch and stare deep into the boy’s eyes, perhaps there was something good that might come from this tragedy yet.

“Well don’t worry about it Bruce, I know how scary being in front of a gun crime can be for the first time. What I need you to do though for me is remember this one thing that I am going to promise you now. However dark and scary the world seems right now, I will find the man who did this and I will bring him to justice…” And more than anything else Jim had done or said since his return to the city that still brought to him so many nightmares, he would ensure he kept that promise no matter what or who got in his way…

 

**A/N: Right, it’s done and only a day late for all the Americans who will have now watched the pilot episode… Unfortunately I am not American and therefore this chapter has been based on the limited promotional material, Jim Gordon’s first foray as a detective into Gotham’s dark and dangerous streets have already made him a powerful ally in his captain but such a promise will make enemies to. I will now need wait until it comes out in Europe before I can do another chapter, so I am afraid I will need to keep you all on tenterhooks until then.**

** Please review to tell me what you think, this chapter might well get a rewrite if I really like the stuff that they do in the Pilot episode so any suggestions/corrections may well be addressed quickly. **


	3. Curiousity and Cats

Selina Kyle had been having a pretty standard day as things went, some wallets, the occasional watch or piece of jewelry and of course food and drinks for her and her friends. It was all going well until the last idiot actually noticed she had nabbed his wallet before she was out of sight. The unfit bastard hadn’t had a chance of catching her of course but it had led her to that alley, overlooking the scene of what was probably the most important crime in the entire city. Selina had watched it all, up until the point where the young redhead who had been following the trio ran over to treat the woman, so much blood...

Unable to look any longer and feeling something stirring in the pit of her stomach for the first time in god only knew how long, Selina took off across the rooftops, following the path she assumed the murderer would have taken if he was determined to make a smooth getaway in an unobtrusive fashion. He had a lead on her and longer legs, but Selina didn’t have to deal with the downtown traffic as she leapt from roof to roof. What she was doing she had no idea, but having seen the look of sheer horror on the boy’s face as his parents hit the dirt had awoken wistful thoughts about her own parents once more, what few memories she had of them anyways.

The man had headed to the Theatre district subway station entrance and that was where Selina lost him, but not before she took note of several distinctive features that would only stick out to an experienced street thief like herself. The man was right handed but favoured his left side whilst walking, probably an injury to his leg or hip that had never healed properly. The clothes he wore were unremarkable but well made, a sign of a man who had moderate wealth but didn’t want to stick out from the crowd, in fact the only thing remarkable about him were his shoes, white shiny loafers that looked custom made. He didn’t move with the air of a man who had just killed two people, there was no panic or haste to his actions, just calm self-assurance that emanated from him as he walked, parting the crowd as they subconsciously moved out of the way to avoid bumping into him.

Armed with this information Selina knew this man was not someone she wanted to get any closer too than necessary, especially if he thought she was spying on him like she had been doing. Instead she doubled back to the crime scene, hoping to hear some better news about the terrible events she had just witnessed. She slunk back in just in time to see the first proper detectives arrive on the scene, Selina recognised Harvey Bullock as he frequented several of the crime ridden dive bars she liked to ‘pick up’ some easy money at, she was always cautious about the man as he was hardly subtle about his double dealing with both sides of the law. The other detective she didn’t recognise though, meaning he was either a transfer or new to the job as Selina had spent a fair amount of time memorising the features of Gotham’s detectives, it wouldn’t do her much good if she accidentally pick pocketed an undercover cop after all.

Caution warred with compassion for a few long moments inside Selina’s stomach, the information she had would probably be of great help to the case, but at the same time she couldn’t risk exposing herself as a witness having just robbed a guy less than a block away. Spying that the car the detectives had arrived in was outside the police cordon and not being watched by the uniformed officers, Selina decided that perhaps she could do her civic duty whilst remaining anonymous at the same time. Luckily the rain that had been drenching the area was slowly relenting, otherwise the ‘procuring’ she was going to do next would be a little pointless…

Persona: Jim Gordon

A few minutes after briefing Bullock on Syke’s new orders, something the more experienced detective had been very unhappy with of course, Gordon walked back down to where officer Essen talking with Bruce in an attempt to gather some more information about the attacker, which the boy was surprisingly specific about including the man’s shiny shoes, the family’s butler had arrived and Bruce’s face had lit up at the sight of the man. The butler was a tall, thin man with thinning grey hair that looked to be in his early fifties if not sixties, dressed in a suit that was probably worth more than Jim’s monthly salary, but that was not what got Jim’s attention. The man screamed soldier from every pore, stance set to cover the Wayne heir even as he hugged the now crying boy close to him, his eyes sweeping the scene with guarded eyes.

Remembering that he was to escort the young Wayne to the precinct with his guardian in order to arrange police protection for the boy, Jim paused his surveying of the scene to stand up and walk over to the grieving pair, nodding his head respectfully to the older man before speaking loudly and clearly from about five feet away.

“Sir, I am Detective James Gordon of the Gotham Police Department, I assume that you are the Wayne family butler?” The man was obviously untrusting of Jim even after he flashed his badge, though given Jim’s limited experience of the city that wasn’t all that surprising, drawing Bruce slightly behind him protectively even as he nodded guardedly.

“I am, the name is Alfred Pennyworth and you will excuse me for being a bit cautious, I have already lost two close friends this evening and training is a little hard to ignore at the best of times. I imagine you understand that as well.” The man was British then, though with a name like that it was not really all that surprising, and he had deduced Jim’s previous military history just as Jim had assumed his. Definitely not a man to be messed with or taken lightly, which is why Jim was doing his best to be efficient with his words.

“I do sir, no need to apologise on such a terrible night as tonight. We are taking this event very seriously I assure you and we are not ruling out the possibility that this was not just random. The captain asked me to escort you, Mr Wayne and our other witness to the police station, she is anxious to get some police protection in place for you both. I assume you came by car sir?” At Alfred’s cautious nod Jim smiled and gestured through the crowds. “Well if it is okay with you sir officer Essen and I would like to accompany you to the station in your car with Bruce and the young lady who is the reason Mrs Wayne is still alive. I just need to grab something from the car and then we can be on our way.” It was obvious that the butler was not happy at having three complete strangers in the car with his charge, but before he could refuse Bruce’s face appeared from where it had been buried in the man’s side, eyes slightly swollen from the crying but there was a definite smile on his face as he spoke up quietly.

“Ivy is coming too? You have to meet her Alfred she is amazing.” And with the boys exclamation along with his insistence of dragging the man over to where Ivy was stood a little awkwardly Alfred’s refusal died before it even made it too his lips, which was why Jim had mentioned Ivy in the first place of course. Leaving the three of them with Officer Essen Jim went to go get his backpack from the car, a survival kit he had made up after getting back from the Middle East to supplement the equipment the police had given him, medical supplies and things like that. People might and had called him paranoid, but better to be prepared and not need it than be bleeding out on the street without supplies to treat it. Slipping through the cordon and bypassing the news staff, who luckily were too busy photographing the body bag that was being loaded into an ambulance to start asking him questions, he made his way to the end of the alley and turned out into the street only to stop in shock.

“Hey, what are you doing?” His call was aimed at the young girl that was stood in front of his car, messing with the windscreen wipers. His voice obviously startled her and she took off without even turning around, vaulting up to a second story fire escape in a display of acrobatics that made Jim feel unfit just watching. He didn’t try and pursue her, given the speed she made it to the roof of the building she would be long gone by the time he got up there, instead he moved to his car to see what she had been doing. To his surprise, rather than finding anything missing from the car as he had expected, he instead found a tied off plastic bag wrapped around something and placed under his windscreen wiper.

Freeing the bag from its confinement Jim undid it quickly and opened it. Inside  there was a small notepad, probably lifted from one of the reporters, and on the page it was opened to there were four words that made him turn and rush back to the crime scene backpack forgotten at the moment...

“Killa had shinee shoes”

**A/N: Having now watched the first and second episodes of Gotham I have tried to adapt this chapter to fit what has been revealed thus far. However, there will be a major deviation here between what they have revealed thus far and what I will have in this story. Selina Kyle will not see the killer’s face (though whether she is telling the truth about that in the first place is questionable anyways). I do not see the killer taking off his mask until he has travelled far enough in a pattern to lose anyone who was following him and made it to a safe house. Therefore Selina instead provides the prompt to make Bruce remember the fact about the shiny shoes and progress the plot from there, and the other information that she has about the killer will be useful information for her to use as leverage later on.**

**Also before someone brings this up, yes Selina’s spelling isn’t perfect, at this point she is a street thief with very little if any formal education. Therefore she can talk a brilliant game, but when it comes to spelling and writing she will just go off guesses.**

** My next question is a simple one, I am currently waiting till the series comes out over here before I plan on adding anymore chapters so that I can keep spoilers to a minimum for those not in the U.S. What do people think? Please review and let me know. **


	4. The Close of the Beginning

Lying in bed next to his partner, Jim couldn't help but feel slightly envious of Barbara's content sleeping face as his mind was in a flux over the past few day's events. The supposed revelation that it had been Pamela's father of all people that had been the Wayne's murderer had not sat well with him even as he and Bullock had been on their way over to question him, Pamela would surely have recognised his voice if it had been her own father. The feeling that something wasn't right was only reinforced when Pamela had opened the door, the hastily applied make up not enough to cover up the bruise on her face that definitely hadn't been there the night before when she had left the precinct, Jim's anger threatening to overwhelm his self control for a few precious moments as she let them inside when Jim made it clear that they were here to speak with her father.

The man was easily eighty pounds heavier than Jim and over three inches taller, which in no way matched the description given by Bruce of his attacker, but the speed and surprising agility the man exhibited when he had run from the pair of detectives certainly showed that you couldn't judge a man's ability by his weight. The fact the chase had ended in Jim on the floor with the man dead next to him made it even less ideal given the promise he had made Bruce that morning. Now that he thought back on things, Bullock showing up just in time to pull off the shot, not even out of breath and 'accidentally' pulling off a perfect kill shot made a lot more sense given the meeting with Falcone.

Mario Islay had been the perfect fall guy for everyone connected to the Wayne murders, the mayor quick to publically hail both Jim and Harvey the 'hard working heroes of Gotham' during his speech on the resolving of the matter. The fact that such politicking had left poor Pamela fatherless and homeless had been for the most part entirely ignored by those that could have done something about it left a bitter taste in Jim's mouth now, even after managing to save the girl from the 'system' of foster care in a meeting held at Wayne manor that day.

*flashback*

Stepping inside the expansive manor, Jim was greeted by Sarah, who had been one of his firm recommendations for the protection detail assigned to the place. The woman gave him a quick salute before her attention turned to young Pamela, who he had brought with him from the station at the Wayne's request. The poor girl had been in shock for most of the day of the shooting, having followed Harvey out in an attempt to stop both them and her father she had been witness to the kill shot. Jim couldn’t help but feel sorry for the girl, being present at two shootings in less than 48 hours was worse statistics than some of the soldiers he had served with had, and that was in Iraq.

Ivy had refused to go within ten feet of Bullock after that, perfectly understandable even if her father had been anything but caring parent of the year, though she was still okay around Jim for the most part, only the occasional flinch on contact giving life to her obvious emotional frailty. Shaking off the feelings for now as Alfred appeared from down one of the corridors leading off from one of the main rooms and beckoned them through. Resting his hand on Ivy’s shoulder he gently guided her into following the older man, being quickly led to the meeting room that he had met young Bruce in in order to take his official statement about his parents shooting.

Inside he was met with a surprise as instead of the young heir to the family Jim was instead left facing a man who in many ways emasculated how  he had imagined the young Wayne would grow up to be. Tall and heavily built, the elderly man moved with the ease of man in his thirties despite looking to be easily in his late sixties early seventies. He was looking away from them, out of one of the large and expansive windows that looked onto the lawns of the Wayne estate, but his voice, deep and crisp with the throatiness that suggested a heavy smoker, spoke with an authority that made Jim want to jump to attention at once.

“The mayor was quick to call me with the ‘good news’, two of the GCPD’s finest catching the man that is responsible for the murder of my Nephew and the critical condition of his wife, gunning him down valiantly as he resisted arrest.” The man turned around, grey hawk like eyes piercing as they stared out from heavily weathered facial features that only added to the man’s apparent age as he looked over first Jim and then across to Ivy, his eyes softening as he covered the distance between them in three long but economical strides before kneeling down in front of her. “I hear that you are the one who I owe the life of my niece in law to child. I also hear that it is your father that has been rather hastily accused of the attack against my family. What is your name young one?” The use of the word accuse very much implied that unlike his great nephew Bruce this man did not believe the story in the slightest, which given Jim’s own doubts was both slightly surprising and reassuring. Ivy seemed to come out of her shell a little, probably catching the same subtle point Jim had and nodded her head slightly in greeting before speaking.

“I am Pamela Islay mr, though please call me Ivy as Pam makes me sound really old.” She seemed to mentally regret saying that a moment later as she looked back down at her feet, shifting from side to side slightly before a gasping wheeze of a laugh from the old man brought her eyes up sharply once more.

“Haha-urgh, yes I knew a Pamela in my youth who said something very similar every time someone asked why she called herself Ela. I myself had a naming problem when I was young, though mine was more of an issue with the fact that it was so odd sounding. The name is Silas Wayne and I am very glad to meet you Ms Ivy, though i apologise that it has had to occur under such circumstances. I have been given the unenviable position of head of the Wayne family, a position I was quite hopeful I would never be weighed down with after all the trouble it caused my brother. But this city has fallen further than I could have imagined whilst I have been away travelling the world to further the Wayne foundations business and now that I am back, there are things here that i cannot ignore.” He gestured off to his right and Alfred was there without a sound as if he had always been there.

“Contact the department of child welfare Alfred, make sure they know that Ms Isley is now going to be a ward of the Wayne household until she is of age. As I have no doubt that the press will get wind of this and there is no way that the official story about her father will change in any way, make sure there is a press conference set up in the usual place two days from now. Nobody officially knows I am back or that I was even planning on returning at all, time to change that I think. And take Ms Islay to Bruce, from what he has been telling me since I returned he will be more than happy to accommodate her whilst we make the required arrangements.” The butler nodded even as Ivy’s face lit up with shock and delight at the sudden announcement, emotions that were building in Jim’s own chest as some of the guilt that had been building inside of him at being involved with Mario’s death lifted a little.

“Really? I mean thank you mr Silas sir, thank you so very much. I need to go tell Bruce, this is great news indeed.” With that Alfred whisked the girl off with practised ease, the old man’s smile lasting until Ivy was out of sight and the door to the meeting room closed, gaze cold and flinty as he turned back to face Jim once more.

“So Detective Gordon, I have heard from my contacts in the GCPD that you are new to the force, back from Iraq in fact where you served two tours of duty. That means that you are probably one of the few people who might not have yet been ‘brought into the program’ as so many of the crooked officials are calling it. That is reinforced by the fact that you have your own reservations about Mario Isley being the murderer of my nephew.” The elderly man brought his hand up to stifle Jim’s rapid attempts at a protest, walking back over to the desk that dominated the room and grabbing a folded piece of paper that was obviously separate from the business files that now littered the formerly sparse desk. Unfolding it as he walked back over Silas handed it to Jim with a sigh.

“Despite the reservations of several experts in the field, I had Bruce do his best to recreate his best memory of the attacker. In my own experience I found that confronting the memories of my horrific moments helped reduce the after effects they had on me, but that could just be an old man trying to force his beliefs on the younger generation. Regardless, this is the image my private sketch artist was able to produce from Bruce’s recollection of his last view of the gunman. Tell me what it is about this picture that has lead me to believe that young Ivy’s father cannot have done what he has purportedly done?” It took time, looking down at the blurred image of the masked man holding the gun directly at him through the picture for Jim to realise the blatant difference between the man in the picture and the man he had chased along the roof tops the day before.

“Mario was left handed, but this shows the man as being right handed...”

*Flashback end*

It had been that revelation that had truly opened the door on Jim’s belief that the Wayne murders were being covered up by those in government and in the police department, and it wasn’t hard to figure out who was pulling the strings given his partner was almost certainly involved. There was no way the hand thing would have a hope of standing in court, but it had certainly galvanised Jim into investigating further. Returning the Isley apartment and reviewing the man’s wardrobe had been enough for Jim to confront his partner with the truth. 

The conversation had been tense and though Bullock didn’t say it outright he made it clear that there was more going on than Jim was being told, though the rather bristly man seemed scared for the first time in a long time. Looking back on it now Jim knew that going to Fish Mooney’s place without back up had been a very rash decision, but he had been incensed enough that he hadn’t been thinking straight. The fact that Harvey had come to try and save him from Mooney’s goons after they had strung him up in the abattoir had been touching for the man who honestly seemed like he had wanted Jim gone the moment he had arrived in the department.

Not that it had helped either of them, their saving grace being Don Carmine Falcone of all people, the elderly mafia boss visibly angry with Mooney’s attempt to kill the pair of them even from Jim’s tilted point of view. The old man had then proceeded to ruin every image Jim held of his long dead father and the system the man had fought so hard to uphold in a conversation the pair had after the man’s goons had let him down, Jim barely keeping control of his emotions that demanded he plant his still aching fist into the mans grinning face.

But he hadn’t, he knew he would not have lived long enough to enjoy the satisfaction that came with such a strike, though given that Falcone had then made him ‘kill’ the man that had snitched about the cover up of the Wayne murders in order to ‘get him with the program’, perhaps dying without all of this intrigue bullshit weighing on his conscience might have been easier. Shaking his head to try and clear the negative thoughts that seemed to pervading every conscious inch of his mind, Jim closed his eyes once again and tried to get to sleep, after all in the morning he had to drive over to the Wayne house and have a chat with Bruce and Ivy. If he owed the truth to anyone about this whole sordid affair, it was definitely those two...


	5. The Week of the Child Snatchers

It had been a couple of weeks since the night of the Wayne murders and Selina was just starting to feel she could relax into the old routines once more without fear that the police were going to jump her at any moment over her moment of stupid heroics. Leaving the note on the detectives car hadn't been the best idea, especially when she could have just dropped it into the man's pocket if she had been prepared to be a little more patient about things. But it was too late to worry about that now Selina mused as she moved closer to one of the oil drum fires that the old man she simply called grizzly had set up for her and several of the other homeless kids who lived in the area to crowd around in the evenings.

The old man had creeped her out a little at first given his kind and open attitude which was completely different to what Selina had encountered elsewhere, but after finding out he was ex military and seeing him protect some of the other kids she had decided to take up his offer  of a relatively warm hearth in the particularly crisp autumn nights that were prevalent at the moment. Selina had even socialised with a few of the kids that also had grouped to join the old veteran, but she hadn't got to the stage where she was willing to call them friends, after all on the streets having friends was a very risky thing, especially as a young girl like she was.

Though that didn't stop some of the kids she had talked to thinking they were friends and treating her as such when they spoke, something she was reminded of when one of the three other kids, hanging round the fires turned and called out as the food truck rolled to a stop near them, distracting her from the shiny necklace she had appropriated the week before from a woman who it did not suit at all..

"Come on cat, free food!" Whilst the others were more than happy at the chance of some free food to quell their rumbling bellies, Selina was a bit more cautious about such a van appearing where they were currently stood. The abandoned underpass was hardly a sensible driving route for the truck and it was highly unlikely that any care worker would be willing to operate at this time of night in this district of Gotham. So with her sixth sense screaming at her Selina shook her head negatively and backed away a couple of steps as a pair of people stepped from the truck a man and a woman who couldn’t look more out of place on Gotham’s shady streets if they tried.

Whilst the woman was speaking about being from the mayor's homeless outreach project, Selina was only half listening as she took in everything about the two in front of her. The pair of them were too sure of themselves to be simple care workers and the way the woman carried herself spoke of confidence bordering on arrogance. The man mentioned the magic word ‘chocolate’ and the three homeless kids were drawn in like helpless flies, quickly grabbing sandwiches to eat without a care what was in them or where they came from.

What happened next went so fast that later Selina had trouble remembering the exact details, just the woman moving behind the eating kids and stabbing them with something in the back of the neck, Grizzly shouting and forcing himself to his feet as she turned and ran, a gunshot ringing out a moment later making it clear what the veteran’s last attempt at heroics had earned him. She ran until she was well clear of the area, perched high amongst her favourite rooftops as she contemplated what she was going to do next, life in Gotham was certainly heating up and doing its best to drag her into it. The kindness of Grizzly during the last few nights suddenly popped into her head along with the grinning faces of the other kids, guilt weighing down on her for a few moments before with a heavy sigh Selina moved off to where she knew there was a payphone as well as some rather easy marks, it was probably time for a phone call. She hated having a conscience at times like this...

***

It wasn’t until morning that she had dared go back to the underpass, Selina had to admit that the incident had scared her even more than the usual violence she saw everyday on the streets did, given it was obvious the attackers had been targeting kids like her. Given the phone call she had made Selina had expected something to have happened, a police cordon or something like that, but instead when she climbed up the building that overlooked the place she had fleeting thought of as home there was a single detective stood looking at the body of Grizzly. It was the same detective that had been at the Wayne murder and nearly caught her leaving the note, the guy seemed to be the favourite in the department for murders in downtown Gotham at the moment.

Watching as the man’s partner Bullock arrived Selina could see the obvious hostility between the two of them, something that wasn’t helped when the cop that had been patrolling the area arrived. As barbed words were exchanged between the younger detective and the cop Selina decided to get a bit closer in order to hear what was being said. Unfortunately whilst she was descending on the fence the younger detective looked up and caught sight of her for a moment before she dropped to the lower roof. She was prepared to run the moment he reacted, but instead he merely finished his rather pointed conversation before agreeing to meet his partner back at the station to interview the witness, meaning that one of the other kids had probably gotten away as well.

As detective Bullock walked away with the cop who was still throwing venomous looks, the younger detective merely took another glance over the corpse before walking over towards where Selina was hiding. When he called out Selina was so on edge that she nearly jumped in shock and had to control her urge to run right there and there.

“This is the second time I have seen you at a crime scene, but don’t worry I am not going to try and bring you in or anything, you gave me useful information about the Wayne case so I am more than happy to not try and chase you over the rooftops if I don’t need to. I am Jim Gordon by the way.” The calm and easygoing tone the man used was an obvious effort to try and make her feel at ease, but with almost twenty feet of height and distance between them Selina was sure that if he did try and bring her in she would be long gone by the time he made it here. A little unsure of what to really say Selina decided to bring something that had been bugging her since she had seen the news reports about the case he had just mentioned.

“Not that it helped you get the right guy, you do know that don’t you? Not that I want to steal your thunder or anything...” She paused when the man nodded his head, never trying to turn and look at her even as he replied with a slightly more defeated tone.

“I know, Mario was set up by my own department and the Falcones, with the proof having been ‘found’ there isn’t a lot I can do on that front without getting the actual killer to confess to it, which won’t happen until I find him. But I don’t want to drag anyone else into that unless I have to, especially one as young as you. How old are you anyways?” Deciding to avoid the loaded question that no matter how she answered it would get him to act differently to how she did now, she decided that as they were here she might as well give him some information to do with Grizzly’s death.

“There were two of them, a man and a woman, they did this to Grizzly and took my friends...” Her admission seemed to startle the man slightly it before Gordon could speak once more the sound of a large motor vehicle heralded the approach of one of the GCPD's coroner trucks making its way towards them, meaning the time for private conversation was over. Before she could take off the detective flicked something up, clearing the fence before landing in front of her, Gordon speaking as she cautiously moved to pick up what's he identified as a name card.

"My card with my cell number on it, in case you ever have a desire to talk or meet without any less than stellar individuals finding out, let me know and I will even bring some food or something." And with that Gordon stepped off and away from the wall without a backwards glance, leaving Selina looking down at the card with a slightly confused expression on her face. This Jim Gordon was definitely different to any other detective she had seen around before, not acting superior or arrogant just because he was in uniform and she was a street kid. Perhaps she could work with him a bit more, especially if he was offering free food into the bargain...

***

Jim Gordon couldn’t believe that he was going back to Fish Mooney’s again only a fortnight after she had tried to have them killed, but given the lack of leads in the case and pressure from the captain he hadn’t many other options when Bullock suggested it, especially as he had no way of contacting the street kid who he had talked to at the crime scene. The look of irritation that flashed over Mooney’s face as she caught sight of them made it clear that they still weren’t welcome here, but it quickly morphed into a smile as no doubt Falcone had had words with her after the whole affair to make sure she didn’t try again. He had got straight to the meat of the matter about why they were here the moment Bullock and Mooney had finished with the opening pleasantries, the less time he had to spend here the better.

“What can you tell me about a man and a woman abducting street kids on your turf?” Mooney seemed to eye him for a moment before sighing almost as if she was disappointed him, smirk back on her face as she continued.

“No foreplay, how disappointing. But you have gotten with the program?” The last part was almost a question as if she did not believe the answer she had been given the first time, but she carried on without pause. “Killed Penguin your own bad self. I must admit I was surprised, straight arrow like you.” Fighting down the feeling of revulsion at the insinuations being thrown his way, Jim managed to keep his reaction to a mere shrug of the shoulders and a muttered response.

“Obviously you misjudged me.” Mooney seemed to look through him for a moment as she seemed to weigh up whether or not she believed him, which didn’t surprise him given her rather paranoid nature. In the end she smiled sadly as if she regretted everything, something she made clear with her next words.

“I guess I did, you are just a little sinner like the rest of us. I am almost sad about that.” She seemed entirely sincere with her disappointment, but it was the move closer to him that had Jim a little nervous about the situation even as he repeated his question, adding the descriptions the boy at the precinct had given them about the abductors. The way Mooney described the trade in children and young adults sickened him to his core, but unlike the other times they had talked she lacked the flair she usually had when she talked about it, making him think that was as close to showing distaste for the trade as she would allow herself in public. Her final statement made it clear that Mooney was not happy about the lack of caring in the city towards the homeless kids, hinting perhaps at her own past in a way that surprised Jim, not that he would ever say something aloud about it.

At that moment his phone rang with a number that he was rapidly coming to recognise as the number that rang him the most. Excusing himself as Bullock and Mooney continued talking, Jim strode out of the club before answering his phone, the gravelly voice on the other end of the line making it clear that it was in fact the new Wayne family head speaking on the other end of the phone.

“Detective, I hope I am not interrupting, but after your conversation with me the other week I have been doing some work of my own to try and get some information about the city together. Things are worse than we thought and what that young man you ‘killed’ said might well be coming true in the near future. Can I invite you up to the manor for dinner this evening? Alfred will pick you up if you give us your address.” Silas Wayne was blunt and to the point as he had been every time Jim had interacted with him, wasting no time beyond the basic pleasantries and avoiding mincing his words anymore than necessary. Jim thought about the not so subtle order to attend this evening before he remembered something that made him wince as he tried to make his excuses.

“Mr Wayne, I am really sorry but my partner and I usually have tonight as ‘our time’ with dinner...” He got no further than that before Silas cut him off with a soft chuckle, the old man obviously drawing the wrong conclusion from Jim’s words.

“Is that what they are calling it these days? Invite her as well Jim, the children could do with a female in their lives beyond Officer Essen. If she wants to stay in I won’t hold it against you, but I would quite like to meet the woman who has you so enamoured that you were prepared to miss one of the best dinners in Gotham to keep happy.” Knowing Barbara as he did the chance to eat at THE Wayne manor was a chance she wouldn’t pass up on even if she was on her deathbed. Especially as it would be  with a man who was rapidly becoming one of the most talked about figures in Gotham since the press conference where Silas had announced both his return to Gotham to head the Wayne family and also his adoption of Ivy as a ward of the family, ‘the sins of the father should not be held against the children of this great city’ being the exact words he had used to justify the adoption. Seeing as the battle was already lost on both fronts Jim decided to give in gracefully.

“Very well sir, I will ring later this evening to let you know our plans. Now, is there anything else you need?” In a city where every powerful figure seemed to slowly be trying their best to control Jim’s actions he couldn’t begrudge Silas of his efforts, at least the old man was doing it because he trusted Jim as an honest man, which was more than Jim could say about everyone else in this damn city...

***

Dinner had been interesting, least of all when Barbara had pressed him on the details of the abduction case he was working on. It turned out having four people pressing for information at the same time in a non aggressive but blunt manner had been an entirely new experience for him and one he hadn’t much enjoyed, especially when he caved under the pressure and told them about the case. Barbara had been quick to ask for a phone after Jim had revealed the fact that the department was deliberately keeping a closed lid on the case, Silas getting Alfred to direct her to one before Jim could protest, the old man giving him a knowing look as Jim slumped into his seat.

“She has her heart in the right place detective, never let that become a bad thing in your mind. Children, the detective and I will take a quick sojourn to the balcony to discuss some things, why don’t you go see if the chef has any treacle pudding that he can rustle up for our desert?” The smile that peaked through on Ivy’s face at the mention of the desert was one of the few Jim had seen all evening, a fact that made him a little sad inside even as the pair of kids quickly excused themselves before taking off at a light jog into the corridor. Silas shook his head benignly as he walked with Jim out onto the balcony, the elderly man not reacting to the cold night in the slightest even as Jim drew his suit jacket a little closer to him.

"I wanted to speak to you about the matter of my nephew’s murder when I called you up here this evening, my niece in law as you know survived the shooting but lost so much blood that her body went into shock. Whilst she is healing slowly now, whether she will ever wake and if so in what state is a different matter. I wanted you here when I told Bruce this as he looks up to you more than anyone else, especially me given how much of his life I have missed. But this matter of the disappearing children is even more concerning, proof that Gotham is damaged and I am not sure whether I will be able to fix her at all, let alone in time to stop the coming blood shed.” That comment caused Jim to glance over sharply and Silas chuckled before sweeping his hand towards the city below them.

“The Falcone’s have weakened and every gang in the city knows it. Nobody would ever have even thought about taking out two of Gotham’s biggest family when Carmine was younger, the unfortunate fact is that my nephew’s death may well be the catalyst that instigates many more as the Maroni family and others circle sniffing for blood. The next few months are vital to return the city to some kind of normalcy, even if that means letting Falcone have his way for now.” Jim didn’t like the idea, but he knew that Silas had a point and wouldn’t have brought it up without having given it considerable thought. Deciding to give the topic thought later on Jim returned to something that he had discussed with Silas before he and Barbara had arrived at the house.

“I will think on it, but I can’t promise I will agree or like the idea. In regards the MCU, have they finally gotten off my case or are they still sniffing around for information? Given that Fish Mooney still seems to be suspicious I don’t need anyone else causing me any more trouble right now.” Silas shook his head, eyes darkening as he turned to look Jim in the eyes.

“They haven’t, from what I can tell they have been looking into Mr Cobblepot’s disappearance and seem to have some inkling that even if you and Bullock had nothing to do with it he has probably been killed for blabbing to them. It’s a shame really, if it weren’t for the fact that telling them would probably tip Falcone off the three of you together might have made a very good team for trying to actually sort out the police department. I will do what I can to send them off after those that actually deserve their attention, but I can make no promises Jim, you know how stubborn you straight arrow types are.” The not-so-veiled jab at his white knight complex made Jim chuckle, even as the sound of heeled footsteps announced the imminent return of Barbara and an end to their current conversation. Neither man needed to say anything, slipping back into a discussion about Bruce and Ivy with practiced ease as the woman in question poked her head out onto the balcony, a topic that Barbara gladly dropped into having obviously become instantly fond of the charismatic if troubled heir to the Wayne family.

The discussion brought Jim’s mind back to the girl he had talked to that morning and the other street kids that had gone missing, superimposing their images onto the returning Bruce and Ivy as they returned with the aforementioned pudding both in a large bowl and crumbs and sauce around their mouths. Gotham was truly sick if such kids lived in constant fear of death or kidnap and with the police department to busy keeping the crime gangs happy to truly crackdown on street crime, Jim wondered if anything he did would make a difference to them. Even if he caught these abductors, who's to say others wouldn’t take their place within months, if not weeks? He narrowed his eyes as he tried to shake the negative thought from his head, the logic of ‘it will happen regardless’ is one that most of the city followed and thus made it so easy for the crime gangs to remain in control, he refused to join that crowd even if it did mean a few more sleepless nights for him in the near future...

***

And sleepless nights it was, though thankfully this particular night had been a win for him and Gotham in general, shutting down Quillian Pharmaceuticals as its owner and several of his employees had been accomplices in the kidnapping of what must have been dozens of street kids as well as rescuing about 12 of the street kids that had been kept in the pharma buildings basement. As he listened to the mayor bluster on about his new initiative to relocate all of the street kids in Gotham upstate Jim couldn’t quite bring his expression to join the gleeful ones that were painted on the faces of the assembled officials and dignitaries at the positive press being generated.

The most pertinent line in the mayor’s speech was also probably the one that would be ignored by the newspapers in tomorrow’s headlines, that the child abductors were still out there free and even with the description of the women that Jim had given to be circulated there was little else for them to go on. Just as the thought of where they might next strike was working it’s way through through his mind Jim spotted one of the mayor’s aides suddenly answer the phone, the expression on his face as he listened to something on the other end of the line made it clear that something bad had happened.

And given how the man quickly moved forwards to whisper something into the mayor’s ear mid-speech, the blustery man paling slightly even as he tried to maintain his suddenly forced smile in front of the press, his gut instinct was probably right in this case.

***

A busload of kids, 40 people, if it hadn’t been for the brainwave that Jim had gotten about Neptune shipping company after Bullock had ‘gleaned’ the information from Quillan then it would have been a truly terrible end to what had originally been a major pr operation. Not that Jim cared about that, as he sat across from his illusive informant having a social worker looking as if someone had just ruined christmas came to tell him that the young girl, Selina Kyle according to her files, wanted to talk to him. She certainly seemed a lot less timid than he would have imagined her given their previous two encounters, watching the girl shoo the social worker away almost imperiously before turning her gaze back to him.

“So, we meet at last Selina isn’t it? Strange that you are always at the centre of my cases since I have got to Gotham and you only want me to talk to me when you are about to be sent upstate? One hell of a coincidence...” The girl gave him a look that practically screamed sarcasm and confidence even before her words added to it.

“It’s Cat, and what can I say? You looked like you needed a hand.” Jim chuckled at her feisty attitude even as he composed his riposte to her comment in his head.

“I wasn’t the only one that needed a hand, those bastards nearly got you twice didn’t they? Survivor or not a bullet wouldn’t have been as easy to dodge as the occasional overweight businessman.” The last comment was a stab in the dark but given what the mayor had said about the petty crime in the city and the girl’s acrobatics he didn’t put her above some petty theft. To the girl’s credit she managed to control her facial reaction with a lean back and smirk, but the slight widening of her eyes let him know he had been spot on with his guess.

“You have no idea Jim, is it okay if I call you Jim?” At his nod she then leaned forwards slightly whilst looking around, her confidence replaced by a anxiety and possibly a little fear. “Suppose for a second that I had some... information that you really, really wanted. If I gave it to you, could you get me out of here?” She was hardly subtle as there was only one other case that he had been involved in since coming to Gotham, but Jim decided to play along with her game rather than outright push for the information,

“What have you got?” Selina seemed to know that he had caught on but nodded her head almost a little thankfully at his patience before smirking once more.

“I’ve been watching you you know, in my travels round the city that is. You are close to the boy and you aren’t like the rest of these crooks.” She seemed to resist the urge to sweep her hands round at the rest of the department. Seeing that Selina was in fact serious about the information and given their conversation at the abduction murder scene, Jim shifted along a little closer to her.

“What do you know Cat? Given our earlier conversation you know I haven’t stopped looking.” Selina seemed almost tempted to tell him before she shook her head and looked across pleadingly.

“Could you? Could you get me out? I am not going upstate if I can avoid it.” Given that she was about to give him information that could actually allow him to make some progress with the murders as he had promised Bruce and Silas, Jim was certain that the elderly Wayne would be able to pull some strings with regards to the young girl in front of him if her information proved useful.

“It’s possible, now what do you know?” Given that the longer this talk went on, the higher chance of someone listening in increased rapidly and that was something he was sure both of them wanted to avoid. Selina seemed to weigh him up for a moment longer before speaking, obviously having worked out that this was the best she was going to get.

“I didn’t get a look at his face, too dark for that and he was wearing a balaclava all the way, but I can give you a proper description of everything he was wearing to how he walks.” Not the most useful information given she would have to step forwards as a witness when it went to trial if he caught the guy, but certainly more than Jim had to go on at the moment. Selina seemed to misread the look on his face as one of disappointment though and quickly spoke up once more, obviously eager to offer up any information that might prove useful to avoid being sent back to social services. “I also know where he went, you might be able to get him on camera’s on something!” Now that Jim thought as he let a small smile cross his face to calm the girl down a little, that was something that he could work on...


End file.
